RICHMOND, Ky. – Trailing 2-1 entering the fourth game, the Colonel volleyball team raised their intensity to another level and nearly forced a decisive fifth game, but Austin Peay pulled out a 35-33 game four victory to win the match 3-1 (23-30, 30-27, 30-24, 35-33) tonight at McBrayer Arena in Richmond, Ky. After tying game four at 28-28, Eastern Kentucky (1-9, 0-1 OVC) had four game-points to push play into game five, but the Lady Govs (6-7, 1-0 OVC) kept fighting back, winning the final three points.
Four players reached double-digit kill totals for EKU. Junior Amanda Wilson hit .283 and led the Colonels with 20 kills. True freshmen Amanda Fago and Leah Nelson were just one behind with 19. Bridget Mustard added 17. Dorota Szymska led the APSU attack with a match-high 29 kills. Kirstin Distler and Meagan Squibb added 18 and 12 kills respectively.
Eastern’s Brittany Nobilio led all players with 39 digs. The senior is now needs only 56 more digs to break the Ohio Valley Conference career record. Sophomore Abbey Blank finished with a match-high 70 assists.
“Even though we didn’t win, we ended the game very well,” Nobilio said. “The way we were playing in the fourth game is the way we want to be playing.”
EKU out-hit Austin Peay .242 to .210 but 10 service errors were tough to overcome for the Colonels.
Game one was tied 13 times and neither team led by more than two points before Eastern Kentucky pulled away with a 12-5 run to close out the game. A kill by Mustard broke an 18-18 tie and gave EKU the lead for good. Nelson’s kill at game-point gave the home team a 30-23 win.
Game two was even closer. Neither team led by more than two points until Austin Peay used a kill and an attack error on back-to-back points to build a 29-26 lead. Szymska’s kill closed out a 30-27 game two win to tie the match at 1-1. EKU posted a .333 attack percentage in game two while limiting the Lady Govs to .236, but the Colonels committed four of their 10 service errors in the second game.
“In game one we took control late and kept it,” said EKU Head Coach Lori Duncan. “We didn’t do that in game two. We stepped off our intensity, we backed down.”
Game three was tied at 14-14 before Austin Peay went on a 13-5 run to build a 27-19 advantage. With 15 kills and 10 errors in the third game, EKU hit just .093. Szymska helped APSU claim the game with seven kills and eight digs.
Just like the first three games, game four was a close one too. Neither team could gain more than a two-point advantage until the Lady Govs scored four straight to grab a 24-19 lead. After a kill by Szymska made it 27-23 in favor of Austin Peay, the Colonels got back into the game with three straight points to cut the deficit to just one. An error by Szymska tied the match at 28-28. A kill by Wilson gave EKU the first of four game-points, 29-28. Each time it looked as if Eastern would force a fifth game, APSU answered.
“After we went down 19-24, the players did a great job of sticking wit our game plan and they brought back the intensity,” Duncan said. “If we had played with that same intensity in game three, there might have been a different outcome.”
After an Austin Peay attack error gave EKU its final game-point, 33-32, a pair of Colonel attack errors sandwiched around an APSU ace gave the Lady Govs the match win.
The Colonels will be back in action on Saturday when they travel to Louisville, Ky., to face the University of Louisville. The match with the Cardinals is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m.
